Symptoms of Diabetes

Diabetes has risen in rampancy of late. From adults to children and from Africa, to Europe and America, this diseases has increased everywhere in the world at an alarming frequency. Therefore, perhaps even before discussing the major symptoms, it is very important to know what it is all about. When one suffers diabetes, it means that their cells are not getting enough glucose due to lack of insulin or due to the body cells become resistant to insulin. Diabetes means that your cells are not getting enough glucose.

What is Diabetes?

For your daily activities you need energy. This energy is mainly derived from carbohydrates. When we eat carbohydrates through our diet, sugar levels in our blood rises. If it increases beyond 180 mg/100 ml, sugar is excreted in urine. Generally insulin, a hormone produced by the beta cells of the pancreas, helps to utilize sugar for the production of energy by the body. It helps in glucose intake by the cells and prevents rise in blood sugar thereby maintaining its normal level. The signs of diabetes are either the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin or whatever produced is not effective in controlling sugar levels. Insufficient insulin changes the metabolism of several nutrients which causes various bad effects.

Diabetic Causes, Symptoms and Suggestions

diabetes symptoms and complications

The most common symptoms are easy to tell. For instance, if you’re practically live in the bathroom, you know, for frequent urination, you probably have diabetes. The kidneys are overwhelmed by the presence of too much glucose and therefore they draw a lot of water from the kidneys to try dilute the glucose for easy passing out. This means that the bladder is filled fast and therefore you are always rushing to the toilet. This also brings another generic symptom of diabetes.

Too much thirst, the urge to drink water also comes because of the kidneys drawing too much water from the blood to dilute the glucose. When your body does not have enough water, you feel the urge to drink water frequently. If you have been getting too thirsty of late, then that could be an indication of diabetes. If the thirst and the frequent urination go hand in hand, then there is no doubt about it.

Fast weight loss is also one of the symptom. When you start losing weight unexpectedly, you need to arrange an appointment with your doctor immediately. When glucose is not taken into the cells for energy provision, the cells look for alternative ways of functioning and this leads to the breakdown of muscle in the body. It starts with the fat and after the fat is gone, the body starts eating itself, so to speak for energy and soon, the sufferer looks emaciated and weak.

Another sign of diabetic symptom is that you feel weak and tired for no reason. The reason is that the cells do not get the glucose that they are supposed to get so that they can provide the body with energy for its daily activities.

There are other common indications of diabetes, though they can be confused with other ailments and that is why it is very important for one to go for a clinical diagnosis. For diabetes Type 1, they include blurred vision, slow healing of cuts and bruises, nausea, dry mouth, itching in the groin area and others. For type 2 diabetes, other symptoms include yeast infections, dry mouth, and vaginal infections for women, blurry vision and some of the major symptoms shown at the beginning of the article. Should you experience any or a combination of the aforementioned symptoms of diabetes, see the doctor ASAP.

So far, it was believed that a balanced diet is highly effective in controlling the risks from type2 diabetes for women of all races and ethnicity. However, recently it has been stated that this is more effective in cases of Asian, Hispanic, and black women. This study has been made at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

As per this study, if one is consuming a balanced diet then she will suffer from a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, especially if she falls in the category of minority women. As the number of type2 diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate, these findings can have a serious impact on the health and lifestyle of women suffering from the type2 diabetes. This study is available online in Diabetes care. It was posted on 15th January 2015.

If recent findings are to be believed, then more than 29 million people across the United States of America and more than 47 million people across the world have diabetes. According to WHO (World Health Organization) If the rate goes on increasing, then by the end of 2030 it will be the 7th largest cause of death worldwide. One of the major reasons why individuals suffer from this ailment is because of excess body weight as well as physical inactivity. In fact, there are reports of diet being linked with diabetes, but it was mainly so in the case of white people. But the current research is on the minority women.

There researchers conducted this research on several thousands of minority women to come to the conclusion. To be precise, there were:

non-Hispanic white women – 156,030

Asian – 2,026]

Hispanic – 2,053

Black women – 2,307

While conducting this survey, several factors were taken into consideration. Some of the important ones include: family history, age, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, Pre and post menopausal status and symptoms, BMR and calories taken. In order to arrive at the conclusion, the researchers kept a score of the components that played a significant role in causing type2 diabetes. The higher score was an indication of the risk factor while the lower score indicated otherwise. Hence, it was observed that a better diet intake improved the chances of having low risk from type2 diabetes while an irregular diet increased the risk from type2 diabetes.

In case of both white women and minority women it was seen that if they were exposed to higher intake of beverages and cold drinks, red meats and higher glycemic index foods, then they had a higher chance of diabetes while those women who ate more of high cereal fiber foods per day they were prone to less risk and threat from type2 diabetes.

As per, Walter Willett of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan, if we do not put this knowledge into practice then there is no point in collecting the information. All the information’s collected have to be put into use if you want to see the desired changes.

Diet plays an integral role in one’s health and well being. If you follow an irregular diet and binge on fast foods and aerated drinks, then you are exposing your body to all the harmful side effects and as such you will suffer from poor health and different types of diseases. And as diabetes often leads to heart attack or stroke, it is extremely important that you pay attention to what you eat. As long as you are having a balanced diet there is nothing to worry about. It is completely a misconception that due to your diabetes, you need to have a bland and simple diet. If you keep a track of the calories consumed by you, there is nothing to worry about. So once you start following a proper diet you can keep the type2 diabetes well under control.